A Writer's Work (is never done)

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Monthly Archives: February 2011

She is the Lady of the Deep, the precious sunken treasure of the Court of the Ocean. Her eyes are green eyes and fold you into their depths, set in a face with the luminescent, pale sheen of a pearl. Her hair flows to her waist, light kelp-hued brown, adorned with strings of tiny, colorful shells. She wears a beautifully draped robe of deep blues and purples, with green accents that match her eyes. Her voice floats from the waves, carrying the ocean’s song to appreciative ears.

Since I don’t have any new writing to post, it’s time for Another Update. Here we go.

As I probably already knew, I haven’t kept up with my February Challenge. At this point it’s very unlikely my final Daily Average will reach 5 pages. I’ll be lucky if it ends up being 3 per day, and I seriously doubt I’ll have 100 pages by the end of the month. However, if I’m better about sitting down and writing for the rest of the month, and have at least finished the exposition part of the plot by the 28th, I’ll be happy with the final result. I have great faith that I’ll meet my “deadline” of tax day. My first draft is likely to need a lot of work, but I still plan to publish the ebook of Sleeping Beauty this year. Assuming I can find an editor who’s willing to wait a while to be paid…

And how are my morning pages coming, you ask? About 50%. I think it’s going to take a while to get into the habit. I’m still forgetting a lot of the time, and I don’t wake up 15 minutes earlier when I have to leave early in the morning for work. I’m doing slightly better now than I had been, remembering more often. As to the usefulness of it, that has yet to be determined. Maybe that takes a while to kick in, too.

Like this:

I traveled the world, bright red hair, intense, fantastical costumes, and a fierce love of performing. I poured my emotions into a microphone with drums and electric guitars blasting behind me. I blew kisses to thousands of loyal screaming fans, knowing how much they all wanted to be me. In part, I wanted to be them – just another devoted face in an admiring crowd.

My first week of Morning Pages did not really go that well. The very first morning after I had decided to do it, I forgot about it until sometime in the afternoon. The next day I did them, but the day after I had to go to work early and didn’t want to wake up 15 minutes earlier to have a chance to do Morning Pages. I’ve done them more than 50% of the time, but I’m still not doing them every day. It will take more getting used to, and perhaps a more regular work schedule, to do that. If I remember later in the day, it’s too late to do them. There is a reason you’re supposed to do this when you first wake up, before you do other things.

So far, when I have done the Morning Pages, they haven’t made me more productive that day. It probably takes a while to kick in.

In addition, I have not kept up with my February Challenge so far. I’m on page 5, while I should be on page 20 or so by now. I didn’t expect to stick to it the entire month, but I did think I’d be excited enough about the project to get a good start on the goals I had set. I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t…

I was thinking about imagery, and how I sometimes get feedback about needing more detail. I have to ask: if you know that a character is walking a path through the woods, is it so hard to envision someone walking through the woods without being told exactly what every inch of his environment looks like? Maybe this is a product of my upbringing, but if I’m reading about people in the woods, I don’t have any trouble picturing them. Perhaps my picture is not exactly the same as the author’s but the basics are there. Any important details should certainly be specifically related, but why should I spend time describing generic forest when the character’s thoughts as he walks seem more important to me? Besides, don’t you ever get tired of having everything described in great detail? I think it creates a dense and difficult tome, at times cumbersome to read.

Dutch Pinup Girl that was born in the wrong time. Lover of fifties and fourties vintage and reproduction clothing, with a slight dress addiction. Taking on the world with petticoats, red lipstick and pretty dresses.